'Justice has not been done': Family's fury at killer's 14-year sentence
The family of teenage stabbing victim Reagan Asbury say 'justice has not been done' after his killer was jailed for just 14 years.
Tyrone Andrew was yesterday cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter after stabbing 19-year-old Reagan in October last year.
Mr Asbury’s sister Elysia Asbury said: “They have robbed me of my brother, my best friend and left me with a lifetime of devastation and grief to deal with.
“There’s a void now. It’s devastating. Our life sentence is not having Reagan with us.”
His mother Helen Kirwan said the tragedy had turned the family’s world upside down: “The man that did this has no idea of the damage he has caused me and my family.”
And Mr Asbury’s uncle Derek Kirwan said: “We are devastated with the decision that has been made today.
“We feel that justice has not been done. It is a big let down regarding knife crime. The sentence is sending out the wrong signal.”
'Animal stalking its prey'
Andrew went ‘like an animal stalking its prey’ before knifing his 19-year-old victim in the neck outside Walsall Town Hall.
The 22-year-old from Derby showed no reaction as he was jailed for 14 years by Judge Simon Drew QC at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday.
The jury cleared Andrew of murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place following the seven-week trial.
Despite previous convictions for violence and drug dealing, he will be eligible for release after serving half of his 14-year sentence.
Mr Drew described the attack as a deliberate and focused blow aimed at the neck from behind.
He said: “You intended to cause serious injury by your actions.”
Perverting the course of justice
Two other men – Declan Kemp-Francis and Ryandeep Sidhu –were each jailed for 30 months for perverting the course of justice.
The jury spent 37 hours deliberating before coming back with verdicts yesterday afternoon.
Andrew, of St Helen’s Street, Derby, waved to his family on being sent down to the cells yesterday. He claimed to have acted in self defence, under threat by what his barrister described as a ‘horde’ of males during the disorder.
Following the stabbing, Andrew fled from Birmingham Airport, flying to Holland and then travelling on to Barcelona in Spain.
He was extradited in December last year.
Trouble at title fight
The trouble began when chairs and glasses were hurled toward the end of a IBF World Lightweight title fight between local man Luke Paddock and Derby-based Myron Mills on October 14 last year.
It continued outside in the street. Andrew was rugby-tackled to the floor, before getting back on his feet and picking a knife up.
He then ran up behind Mr Asbury and stabbed him to the side of the teenager’s neck, ‘like an animal stalking its prey’, according to prosecutor Michael Burrows, QC.
WATCH: CCTV shows footage of violence
Andrew and Kemp-Francis fled the scene before the knife was handed to Sidhu, who put it into the driver’s area of his BMW.
After returning home, Andrew ditched his blood-stained shirt, and then got in a taxi to Birmingham Airport to board a flight to Amsterdam.
Mr Asbury was taken to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital but died at 8pm the day after the boxing event, in October last year.
Jurors convicted Sidhu, 22, of Lidgate Close, Derby, of perverting the course of justice by taking possession of the knife used to kill Mr Asbury.
Kemp-Francis, 24, of Dickens Square, Sunny Hill, Derby, was acquitted of violent disorder but was found guilty of perverting the course of justice by helping Andrew return to Derby from Walsall.
Both were jailed for 30 months each.
A fourth defendant, Lavelle Patrice, 22, of Havenwood Grove, Littleover, near Derby, was cleared of violent disorder.
